September 9, 2015

Note: Be it known that this article is still in draft form. Also, please bear with the poor English of the author. Another thing, this article is part of a bigger article: Revelation 12.

The Red Dragon has 7 heads and 10 horns and on its heads are 7 crowns. What do these things represent and what have they to do with the War in Heaven? Similarly, the 1st beast in Revelation 13 has also 7 heads and 10 horns but it has 10 crowns instead of just 7 and they are on its horns and not on its heads. Also, the scarlet beast in Revelation 17 has 7 heads and 10 horns. These two beasts of chapters 13 and 17 were interpreted in various ways by various people. As for me, the 7 heads of the Dragon and of these two beasts represent the same kings or kingdoms, and these heads are the Islamic Caliphates. Likewise, the 10 horns of the Dragon and of the two beasts from chapters 13 and 17 of Revelation symbolize the same 10 kings.

Rev 17:9-10 KJV
(9) And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
(10) And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

This passage indicates that the heads as kings or kingdoms are chronological but there could be overlapping.

Rev 17:12-13 KJV
(12) And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
(13) These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

The 10 horns (kings) are contemporaneous.

1. The Beast of Revelation 17

Read again Revelation 17:9-10 above. The time setting of this vision is when the beast is on its 6th head, isn’t it? Let’s now compare the two verses below.

(Rev 17:8 KJV) The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

(Rev 17:10 KJV) And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

These two verses are giving us fourth dimensional information about the beast that John saw. Each of them has three time stages that correspond respectively to each other. Verse 8 refers to the beast itself while verse 10 to its heads as “kings.”

Revelation 17:8

Revelation 17:10

The beast that thou sawest was

five are fallen

and is not

one is

and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition

and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space

Notice that at the time of the 6th head the beast is “is not.” This means that while the 6th head exists, the beast is non-existent! BUT, John saw the beast in his vision, how are these things? What is meant here is the existence of the beast in the physical world. The beast does not exist at this particular time but the peoples it points to do exist. There’s no empire government (beast) that holds them together but each of these peoples has their own country and government.

When the beast ascends out of the bottomless pit, it will be with its 7th head. We now compare the same verse 8 to verse 11 which also has three time related stages.

(Rev 17:8 KJV) The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

(Rev 17:11 KJV) And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Revelation 17:8

Revelation 17:11

The beast that thou sawest was

And the beast that was

and is not

and is not

and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition

even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition

These two verses both refer to the beast itself in their past, present and future stages but there is something more in the future stage of verse 11. The beast in the future stage of verse 11 is understood to be on its 7th head just like in verse 8, but the verse says “it is an eight and of the seven” (or seventh). This eight thing can’t be the head as “king” because it is the seventh. But this head is an eight if we will look at this coming out of the beast in relation to the beasts of Daniel 7 and their heads.

There are four beasts in Daniel 7. Each of these beasts or their heads represents king or kingdom or empire. Now, notice the 4th beast:

(Dan 7:7 KJV) After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

This beast has ten horns too! So, this means that this beast is the beast that will come out in Revelation 17 verses 8 and 11 (from the bottomless pit). Also, it is the composite beast that comes out of the sea in Revelation 13. But if we will count the heads of the beasts of Daniel 7, it will give us just 7 heads.

The head of the 4th beast here is apparently the 7th head and not the 8th. But what about the first appearance in the physical world of the beast in Revelation 17 before it became non existent – the beast that is termed as “was?” If we will include it in our count chronologically, it will be the 7th and the beast that will come out from the bottomless pit will be the 8th! And this 8th thing belongs to the 7th!

It could be in this way the 7 heads are meant to be “mountains” in verse 9. The beasts of Daniel 7 and their heads are the “mountains” on which the woman or whore sits. The first three beasts’ heads sums up to six plus the fourth beast itself equals seven. But the “7th” mountain represents only the beast that “was” in Revelation 17 because the beast that “will ascend” (8th mountain) is not yet come and when it comes, it will destroy the whore.

Although, most of the original empires or kingdoms that the beasts of Daniel 7 represent don’t exist anymore at the time setting of Revelation 17, their places and the descendants of their peoples exist. The sitting up of the whore on these “mountains” and/or on “many waters” could be what Revelation 18:7 is saying.

It is worthy to note here that the names of blasphemy are written on the beast itself and not on its heads (Rev 17:3). King Cyrus of the Medo-Persian Empire was anointed by God. The heads as mountains are not connected to the names of blasphemy written on the beast.

It is believe that the heads as “kings” in Revelation 17:10 are the Islamic caliphates or empires. Let’s look at the definition of the Greek word “kings” in this verse:

G935 βασιλεύς basileus bas-il-yooce’
Probably from G939 (through the notion of a foundation of power); a sovereign (abstractly, relatively or figuratively): – king.

According to this definition, this word also means “king” and neither “kingdom” nor “empire” but we know that it scripturally means “kingdom” or “empire”. If “kings” could figuratively mean “kingdoms” and/or “empires” in this verse, why not in Revelation 17:10? There’s also a possibility that the word “kings” in Revelation 17:10 is the Aramaic word H4430 in Daniel 7:17 if the New Testament was really written originally in the Aramaic.

2. The 1st Beast of Revelation 13

(Rev 13:3 MKJV) And I saw one of its heads as having been slain to death, and its deadly wound was healed. And all the earth marveled after the beast.

The blue colored words in this verse might be the reason why the beast is non-existent in the physical world at the time of the 6th head in Revelation 17. If this is correct which is very probable, then the 5th head is the HEAD that has received the fatal wound and has died. And this head was the Ottoman Empire which collapsed and died a few years after World War 1. What was healed here is the wound of the beast and not of its head that had already died.

(Rev 17:8 KJV) The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

This verse is from Revelation 17. Now, read a verse from here (Revelation 13):

(Rev 13:3 KJV) And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

These two verses are giving us information about the coming out of the beast and about its deadly wound that was healed. Now, notice in these two verses that when the beast has already ascended from the bottomless pit or sea, the people of the world are visionally AMAZED at it. These things (the fatal wound and the amazement) are implying that the 1st beast here and the beast in Revelation 17 are one and the same. And ALSO, they are indications that the time setting of the vision in Revelation 13 is when the beast is on its 7th head. The scarlet beast in Revelation 17 which exists only in the vision but is a pointer to actual peoples and nations is on its 6th head, remember?

3. The Crowns

(Rev 17:12 KJV) And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

At this time of the 6th head, the ten kings symbolized by the ten horns have received no kingdom yet. And notice in this vision the ten horns have no crowns and neither do the heads. The ten kings in this verse will receive their kingdoms during the time of the 7th head.

(Rev 13:1 KJV) And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

This is the coming out of the beast with its 7th head and there are now crowns upon its horns. In this vision or time frame the ten horns will be exercising their authority because they now have kingdoms to rule. Notice that aside from the “authority” that the crowns inherently symbolize, the ten crowns are also telling us that the horns will be “active” in this vision. In Revelation 17, the ten horns are without crowns because they have no kingdoms to rule yet. They are not the “active” parts of the beast in that vision, they are future then. Back in the vision here in chapter 13, it will be noticed that the 7 heads are also without crowns. The first six heads are past and the REIGNING head which is the 7th does not need a crown for us to understand that it is the “active” head.

(Rev 12:3 KJV) And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

The heads of the Dragon have also crowns but before we continue, let’s first resolve the verse range of the vision this verse belongs to. The vision of the Woman and the Dragon started in Rev 12:1 and apparently ended in verse 17. The next vision that comes after this is the vision of the 1st beast of Revelation 13. Looking at these two visions, it can be said that they are chronological and related to each other. The latter is an offshoot of the former. It can also be stated that the latter is part of the former. But technically speaking, these two visions can be seen as distinct from each other just like the difference between the history of Great Britain and the history of USA. This distinction between the two visions was obviously the reason why the people who divided the Bible into chapters and verses did split these two visions into two chapters. But there are parts of them that overlap. Here is the passage that is part of both of them:

Rev 13:1-4 KJV
(1) And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
(2) And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
(3) And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
(4) And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

The starting of the vision of the 1st Beast of Rev 13 is clearly seen in verse 1 but the ending in verse 4 of the vision of the Woman and the Dragon that started in chapter 12 is not readily seen. The inclusion of the Dragon as an object of worship in verse 4 supports the existence of this overlapping. Additionally, the pronoun “I” in verse 1 is “it” in other Greek manuscript(s) which is a substitute for the Dragon. The vision of the Woman and the Dragon really ends in verse 4 of chapter 13, isn’t it?

Let’s go back now to the crowns upon the heads of the Dragon. These 7 crowns denote that at some point within the vision of the Woman and the Dragon (Rev 12:1 – 13:4) all of the Dragon’s 7 heads will be active. And that includes the 6th head even though the Beast (empire government) is nonexistent at its time but the peoples and countries that it points to do exist.